How much profit is it ideal to make off of a custom pc?

[Ric0h]

I always had my standard of 200-400 dollars profit per computer, no matter what, Ill never that anything lower.

But I know several of you build computers for profit well some of you, actually do it for profit.

So I'd like to know whats your standard profit per computer

Thank you so much

 

[Hefemeister]

For a computer in that price range you cannot make too much profit. It you do they will buy something prebuilt from a store. My plan is to get the customer and make the money on future customer support. Now high end computers with top of the line parts you can make more than $100 if you have a good supplier.

 

[zedman3d]

I go for $70 profit online, maybe $120 offline.

 

[Shumway]

Can't even make a profit around here any more,All the computer stores can under sell me by $100 to $200

 

[Harper]

Personally I would like to see a min. of $100 or 10% make from a sale of a custom PC.
Some thing higher end, I do like to see 15% to 20% mark up. However this all come down to how much has your client been shopping around.

Problem is that once you sell the PC, you need to hope and pray that is does to break down during the warranty period. Failing that, you do get the occasional phone call where they are expecting you to spoon feed them support for free. I will normally push the customer into the right direction, but I am not going to spoon feed them the information for free. Not on a machine with I only made $100 on.

It's sounds cruel, but I am a business, not a charity.

 

[Jorsoft]

It's sounds cruel, but I am a business, not a charity.

QFT right there.

I don't build rigs for profit anymore just for that simple reason, ppl can and will just call you on a whim and expect the world from you. Especially family members and that creates a whole other set of issues. The amount of time it takes to select parts, order, build, image, and configure a new pc is barely worth $100 to me, much less support after the first 30 days.

 

[Kharn]

It's possible to make a profit but not much, thing is I am normally able to complete the work before most other people an to tell the truth the money really isn't in building new computer it's the support that comes afterwards.

 

[Trotter]

Same as above. I don't build for other people, at least not for profit. I know very few enthusiasts, or even people who understand what it takes to make a gaming computer. Most people around here think a computer from Walmart is more than enough and that ordering a Dell (any Dell) is high-fallutin' stuff.

What money I make is from support. This mainly consists of cleaning up malware infestations, with an occasional actual problem. Other than replacing a PSU or a hard drive, most of these problems were fixed with a simple repair or their Windows installation.

 

[Lexluethar]

Usually depends on what ther person needs. But if they need everything from a quote to build to the install of the OS i charge 120 bucks no matter what the price of the system is.
$40 for quote and or consultation
$40 for the physical build
$40 for the installatin of the OS

As others have stated there are two people that do this. One is the hobbiest that does it for fun and builds comptuer for friends and family members. They don't care about profits because they just enjoy helping people out and/or enjoy building computers. They may say they are doing it for business purposes, but if you aren't in it for profit then you aren't in it for a business purpose and there are other motivational factors driving you.

The other is from the side of business. You build it because you are offering someone not a favor, but a service from a business aspect. As cowboy said you aren't running a chairty but a business that you actually count on for some portion or all of your income.

 

[Ric0h]

Wow, my standard of profit is was higher, and I probably build much worse that you people.

Well I don't make holes through the case just to make better cable management.

Then I guess I been lucky cause all 4 customers I have sold too, never complained, except one time which I used a stock intel fan, and the person just told me that it overheated and he added thermal paste.

Computers break after 2 weeks of usage? Thats usually what it takes me to sell a computer (yeah I am bearly starting) and I just think its impossible to break after that period.